Because I Care About You (That's Why)
by Outsiders Obsessor
Summary: Asta the Dragonborn of legend returns to Jorrvaskr from the Battle of Fort Dunstad weary and bloody. Fortunately, the Imperials had managed to win the battle, but several extreme measures had to be taken to ensure the victory and that all the Imperial soldiers came back alive. Farkas finds an injured Asta and cares for her before making a confession that will change their lives.


**Because I Care About You (That's Why)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the canon characters; they belong to Bethesda Studios. I do, however, have claim to Asta, as she is my Dragonborn in my play-through. I listened to 'Of One Heart' by Simon Daum while writing the ending scene; I think you should listen to it as well to set the mood!**

* * *

Staggering into Jorrvaskr after a particularly gruesome battle at Fort Dunstad, Asta removes her Imperial Officer's helmet that Hadvar gave her two battles prior. Finally able to rest, the brown-haired Nord relaxes her body, knowing her shield-siblings would keep her safe should anyone have followed the Dragonborn of legend back to Jorrvaskr. A twinge sears through Asta's left side as she quietly walks towards the hearth Tilma so generously left lit at night. Barely making it to a chair, Asta collapses immediately onto the wooden furniture. Her mind begins to grow foggy as shapes start to blur. Before she realizes it, Asta's blue eyes close; the Dragonborn and newest Companion sinks into the depths of unconsciousness.

The door opens from outside Jorrvaskr's mead hall, but in Asta's current condition, she does not hear the noise.

Not even her inner wolf could save her now…

* * *

Farkas, dressed in a pair of roughspin trousers and an old shirt, approaches the dining hall with a dead elk squarely on his massive shoulders. The night air had beaconed the Circle member outside, almost begging him to hunt by moonlight in order to let off some steam and clear his head.

(Not to mention, the time away from Jorrvaskr let Farkas' consuming thoughts about Asta subside just enough to where he didn't totally succumb to the pain of her absence.)

If it had been up to Farkas himself, he would have gladly followed Asta into the battle against the Stormcloaks. He had told the newest member of the Circle before he last battle that he didn't care what side of the war she was on. As her shield-brother, his honor and sense of love for Asta the Dragonborn, he simply needed to know who Asta's enemies were and which ones were in need of a good bludgeoning. The scent of blood immediately fills Farkas' nostrils, and the wolf inside of him metaphorically raises its hackles as Farkas goes on high alert. Using his highly developed sense of smell, Farkas quickly deduces that the blood is not coming from the dead elk on his shoulders. Quickly lying the elk down where he stores the meat he procures for Tilma, Farkas inhales forcefully, trying to root out the source of the blood, knowing it to not be himself.

* * *

Each person has their own unique scent, and each person's scent could vary based on the day's events. Such a highly developed sense of smell has served Farkas well in many occasions, such as when he and Vilkas have tracked prey together through the woods, or when attackers cannot be seen or heard as easily as the Companions would hope. However, this same gift has led to many awkward conversations with the female members of Jorrvaskr, as the scent can also reveal a few personal details about a woman's body. (Both Farkas and Vilkas try their absolute hardest to tune those animalistic tendencies and scents out, not allowing the wolf to purposely seek out the smells of a female in childbearing season.) This blood, however, is different. With a final inhale, Farkas catches the distinct whiff of blood, metal, furs, lavender, and mountain flowers.

_"__Asta_," _Farkas' inner wolf whines, realizing that the female Nord Farkas has come to call his dearest friend is the one bleeding._ "_Asta is in trouble!" the wolf growls, and Farkas places a hand on his iron greatsword just in case any more members of the Silver Hand will try to dispatch of him or his shield siblings after the attack at Dustman's Cairn. "Help Asta. She is a part of you."_

* * *

Noticing the prone form in one of the dining chairs, Farkas sighs heavily when he realizes that Asta has passed out. He could not smell mead on her body and knew the young woman rarely touched the alcohol due to her challenging upbringing, but the scent of blood grew stronger.

"Asta!" Farkas shouts out as quietly as he can where he does not startle Asta nor wake up the whole of Jorrvaskr. "Asta, please wake up," the more muscular twin whispers as he kneels down beside her, doing his best to locate the site of the bleeding.

With soft, gentle movements, Farkas comes to a spot along Asta's ribcage on her left side where blood has coated her leather Imperial armor she insisted on wearing to every battle, even with Kodlak's insistence that their newest recruit get some stronger Grey-Mane armor to where into battle. Pulling his hand away from Asta's side in shock and horror, Farkas notices that his own hand is now covered in his shield-sister's crimson blood. Asta would need help and quickly. Sending up a prayer to the gods, Farkas softly positions Asta into his arms, carrying her bridal style down the stairs and into his personal quarters.

* * *

When Asta comes to, she awakes in Farkas' bed, though she does not realize that at the time. With a mumble and slight groan, the Dragonborn of legend tries to roll over, only for calloused yet gentle hands to push her arms back down on the bed.

"You must not move. You will tear the stitches," Farkas quietly instructs, his voice filled with concern for the woman in front of him.

"Farkas?" Asta inquires in a groggy voice, the day and night's events taking a toll on her, especially when the young Nord thinks back to the condition she left Lydia in back at Breezehome. "What am I doing in- Where am I?" she questions, wrapping her smaller hand around Farkas' much larger one and squeezing it as tightly as she can when a slight spasm passes through her side as the pain catches up with her.

"I carried you into my room. You were passed out in the dining hall, Asta," Farkas explains, keeping his voice low like one would use with a frightened child. "I didn't even know you were back until I smelled blood. _Your _blood," the muscular man continues to tell his shield-sister, his grey eyes filled with concern for the woman he has recently begun to develop feelings for, though he would never jeopardize their friendship and status as shield-siblings just due to a feeling in his heart.

Plus, even if he were brave enough to admit it, he didn't have a way with words like Vilkas did.

"Where's the top of my armor?"

"I asked Tilma to come in and stitch up your side since my hands were covered in your blood. With your armor removed, I went out to wash it for you since I know how much you treasure it for a reason I could never understand."

"Am I wearing one of your shirts?" Asta blushes, and the tips of Farkas' ears flush a light pink at the seemingly innocent question and Asta's embarrassed look.

"Aye. Didn't think the others would take too kindly to me rooting through your chest in the whelps' room so late at night," Farkas tells the brown-haired, blue-eyed Nord, trying his best to laugh off the situation and not embarrass the two of them any further.

* * *

"How are you feeling, Asta? Would you like something to numb the pain? I have some really good mead I could-"

"I'm fine, Farkas," Asta quietly mumbles, her blue eyes locking onto Farkas' grey ones as she acclimates to the pain that is projecting from her wound. "It's only a scratch," she grins slightly, only for the grin to switch to a slight grimace when she exhales.

"Don't lie to me," Farkas gruffly says to the injured woman in front of him, his grey eyes showing no traces of humor, only seriousness. "I may not have the smarts of Ysgramor like Vilkas, but I'm also not stupid."

To the untrained ear, Farkas' statement would seem like a command, demanding that Asta never lie to him again. However, Asta has trained with, spoken to, travelled with, and even silently started to fall in love with the massive Nord man in front of her. Farkas knows Asta almost as well as she knows herself. As her closest shield-sibling and the one who vouched for her to become a Companion, Asta at least owes him a proper explanation.

"I know that it's your blood, and I know that those Stormcloaks did more than scratch you, Asta," Farkas continues, squeezing the woman's hand in comfort and wishing he had Vilkas' gift with words and silver tongue. "Tell me the real story. _Please. _I need to know if someone's after you," he nearly begs, that same genuine concern in his silvery-grey eyes as they dance in the candlelight.

"The attack on Fort Dunstad didn't go quite as planned. We won, but Lydia nearly died. Twice," Asta swallows thickly, her mind travelling back to the horror of seeing her housecarl and one of her dearest friends bleeding out on the cobblestone of the fort with Stormcloaks surrounding them on all sides. "Those wretched Stormcloak soldiers nearly gutted her the second time as I used all my health potions on Lydia. I guess one of them cut me while they were trying to end Lydia. But, thanks to the werewolf gift and my dragon soul, what would have killed Lydia only wounded me. I killed them _all_, Farkas," Asta begins to explain what nearly happened to Lydia, pain and anguish in her blue eyes. "It still took both Hadvar and me to carry Lydia off the battlefield even with the health potions…" she whispers, nearly in tears as she thinks of what she would have done if Lydia's life had been lost in the fight against the rebels.

"Asta, I… I had no idea," Farkas softly says, wrapping his arms carefully around the injured woman, being conscious of her wound and the fact that his shirt was several sizes too big on the woman. "I'm sorry you had to endure that."

As Farkas comforts Asta, they sit in silence, and Asta realizes just how lucky she truly is to have Farkas as her shield-brother, confidant, and friend.

* * *

"Farkas?" she asks sometime later when both of them have nearly drifted to sleep while sitting upright against the headboard.

"Hmm?" Farkas drowsily inquires, looking over at the woman next to him. "What is it, Asta? What's wrong?"

"Why did you do all of this for me? I mean, I've made you give up your bed, your privacy, and told you the horrors I witnessed when you have enough burdens of your own."

"Because I-" the male werewolf stumbles, not quite sure if he's willing to proceed with this route of words. "Because I care for you, Asta, that's why," Farkas finishes, looking Asta in her blue eyes as his grey ones sparkle in the candlelight around them.

"You do?" Asta breathes, relief flooding through her body that Farkas genuinely feels the same way about her as she does about him.

If there is one thing anyone can count on Farkas for, it's his honesty to those he is close with.

"Aye. I care for you, Asta. More than I can express. In fact, I—" Farkas stutters before finding his resolve and mustering up all of his courage. "I can express it better like this."

Farkas' lips crash against Asta's as he cups the back of her head in his large hands, a spark of passion igniting in the both of them as they kiss for the first time.

* * *

Kissing Farkas is not how Asta dreamed it would be. She had often imagined what kissing Farkas would feel like if she ever was lucky enough to catch his attention, but this is not at all how she had thought the Companion would kiss. On the one hand, Farkas' kiss is soft yet passionate as he gently presses his lips into Asta's where he does not jostle her wound too much; however, the passion invoked in the kiss as he deepens it and allows his hands to caress Asta's head lull the Dragonborn into a sense of pure love and admiration for the massive man beside her. Oh, she could get used to a feeling like this. As the kiss ends, Asta nuzzles her head underneath Farkas' neck, hearing their hearts beating as one through his massive chest.

"I love you, too, Farkas," she whispers, and it is then that Asta realizes that it would not matter how many miles she traveled away from Jorrvaskr on a trip because Farkas would always be at her side or faithfully waiting on her to return home to him.

She falls asleep in Farkas' arms, and when dawn breaks on Whiterun, neither Vilkas nor Tilma has the heart to disturb the sleeping pair.

* * *

**Author's Note: And there it is! My sixth ****_Skyrim _****story already! Originally, this was meant to be a shorter one-shot, but I got very carried away. This game is inspiring me so much! I already have so many other stories for it planned surrounding Asta's adventures in Skyrim and the adventures I wish she could have in Skyrim! (Long story short if you haven't read my other fics, my game broke about five years ago and I just recently got a new disk, so I'm living the life I remember Asta having in my past game.) I really wanted to come up with a jumping off point for Asta and Farkas' romance, and I came up with the line 'Don't lie to me' today at work as one of the potential kickstarts to their relationship. So, Farkas taking care of a wounded Asta after the Battle of Fort Dunstad is how their romance became a romance. (And, yes, Lydia did nearly die twice on my game during that battle. She died once and I re-loaded, and then she almost died two more times in the battle where I won!) Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Until next time, dear readers! Have an amazing day, afternoon, or night! **


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